Nurses are ‘too important to be allowed to strike’ insists man who also believes they’re not important enough to be paid properly

30 comments

  1. Excerpt:

    >Nurses should not be allowed to strike because they are too important to the nation’s health, according to a man who simultaneously believes they aren’t important enough to be given a proper pay rise.

    Rich Smith, 15 December 2022, NewsThump.

  2. *What’s that? Should we then give them an inflation-matching pay rise? Well, no, of course not. They’re not that important. Considering their importance, I think a pay rise of about half the rate of inflation is about right. I want them to be earning less in real terms, just not a lot less.*

    Newsthump getting a bit *too* on the nose, as I wear I’ve heard some people at this practically word for word. The only thing that gives it away as satire is the introspection and honesty in stating that a <11% pay rise is a real terms pay cut.

  4. I am not being a troll here; I need help understanding the terminology when it comes to permission to strike. I’ve seen it on a number of posts, and it never seems to be addressed; how can anyone be banned from striking? Surely everyone is banned from striking? Isn’t that the whole point? Are they suggesting it be made a criminal offence for healthcare workers not to go to work?

  6. It seems wrong to mark this as “satire”.

    There were multiple supposedly good faith posters making exactly this argument in this sub yesterday – saying that the nurses withdrawing their labour would lead to unacceptable deaths but also arguing that the nurses should receive an enormous real terms pay cut.

    I wonder if the mods who think that this article needs a “satire” tag are going to ban all of those accounts as trolls?

  7. Also too important to retain by improving working conditions and too important to increase training capacity for. Nurses are so important that the government will stop at all expenses to do anything to help them.

  8. News Thump in an attempt at humour, hit the nail so hard on the head the whole nation took a concussion.

  9. Well, let’s face it. In this world the only thing that matters is power. Power to rule, to dictate, to inflict pain… and to negotiate. No one is going to give you anything until they feel the pain of not giving it to you. Nurses are not asking for gold; they are simply asking for a living wage as are all workers. Paymasters have been paying less and less wherever they could get away with. This cost of living crisis, inflation, interest rate are here by design; it is not an accident. It’s all for POWER.

  10. I’ve seen people making EXACTLY this argument, so….while this is satire, it’s not really even satire at this point, it’s just the way people see the situation.

    For example, would parroting Trump’s insane viewpoints be satire, because they’re so wild and hilariously dumb? Or would it simply be repeating his viewpoints?

    Similar thing here. Looks like satire, but can it be satire, if you’re basically parroting their actual viewpoints?

  11. A witness on the Moral Maze on Wednesday thought exactly this. He believed that nurses (along with the army, police and teachers!!!) shouldn’t be allowed to strike because they had a duty to the vulnerable people in their care and that they were rewarded in other ways (like respect from the community). He also thought the situation they were in was exaggerated.

  12. I wonder if these fools would rather nurses outright quit their jobs, they’d be like “NO THEY CANT DO THAT EITHER!” conservatives will always be giant wet turds.

  13. They are too important to under pay, they are too important to be stretched to cover gaps in under staffing, they arevtoo important to freeze the wages of for a decade. They are more important than this wanker

  15. Well it’s either strikes or all the nurses quit. If you prevent them from striking or having any say in negotiations. Then their only options as workers are if you’re fed up then find a new job.

    Plenty of other wealthy first world countries are desperate for nurses and theyl pay alot more for them than the UK.

    On that note I do find it funny rishi removed the cap on bankers bonuses to “keep the UK competitive” but seems to not hold the same logic to nurses.

    With the growing elderly population, declining birthrates and exodus of healthcare workers. I’m not sure what the UK is really playing at tbh.

  16. Nurses are too important for it to be allowed to get to the point where they feel it’s neccessary to strike, is what someone who isn’t a twat would say.

  18. America 🤝 UK

    Refusing to treat workers with any kind of respect, but saying they’re so important they can’t be respected.

  20. A few things (I’ve said that a lot to day). It’s not just nurses that are striking, it’s train workers, and going in to the new year, potentially teachers. Second thing. They’ve been forced to work tireless hours over the past few years and into the foreseeable future, they still will be. You look at this and then look at how little they’re paid in comparison to people that are footballers and play professional spots. they’re paid in buckets of money for, don’t take this the wrong way, playing with balls. Bearing in mind we’ve gone 2 years without live sports, and couldn’t have survived half a year without the NHS and health services. Please, think before you let shit come out your mouth.

  22. Once someone stands up to take a lead role, and _organise,_ then all sorts could happen…

    We outnumber those who oppress us and mistreat us by thousands to one.

  23. As much as I believe nurses deserve fair pay, and they do, you’ve got to understand that in reality, the tories are going to be wringing their hands together with these strikes. They need to look like they’re laying down the hard line, but when they do give nurses their payrise, and they will, it’s just another excuse they’ll give to needing private investment in the NHS and another step towards the full privatisation and insurance modelled healthcare system that they’ve been orgasming over for years.

  24. “ThE mOnEy NeEdS tO gO tO fRoNt LiNe SeRvIcEs”

    From my experience, patients at a hospital spend the majority of their time being looked after by a nurse. That’s pretty front line to me.

  25. Damn those striking hero scum of the NHS! How proud we are of their hated, selfless souls. They want you to die while simultaneously treating you with the upmost care and compassion.

    The bastards.

  26. Right, I’m late to the party but I’m gonna leave my two pence;

    My Mrs is a nurse (a sister actually, but I’m sick of explaining what a sister is without being accused of incest). She’s worked as a qualified nurse in the NHS for over 10 years. She had to go to uni for 3 years, has done top up courses for additional training, study, write papers, do exams, crippling amounts of unpaid clinical practice.

    I, did a little bit of training, got a few years experience and can earn more than her…

    Yes, I put in way more hours than she does but my job isn’t skilled – her’s is.

    Yet, I’m the bread winner in our house.

    Why?

    Probably because Mr/Miss/Mrs/Whatever McTory McBudget McDontCare hasn’t seen the need to give them a realistic pay rise in over 10 years.

    A strike is intended to have an effect to everyone to prove a point that they are an essential part of the economy. If you don’t support it then you’re part of the problem.

  28. I think until the economy improves, all MPs should receive a 50% pay cut and forced to maintain 100% attendance and full-time hours. They run the country right? They’re far to important to be allowed to not do their jobs properly.

  29. Conservative math:

    Nurse as Value = $$$$$$,

    Absolutely Indispensable as Caregivers

    Nurse as Expense = $,

    Costs must be contained. Pay must be minimized.

  30. They truly are, there should a mechanism to prevent both the striking and the tom foolery of ignoring their demands.

Leave a Reply